Category Archives: The Stick Arounds

The TENTH annual GTG Fest is next weekend in Lansing, MI. It’s wild to think that we’ve been at it this long but, hey, here we are and things are better all the time. There’s two new releases, a band reunion, a farewell show, some great touring bands, and we’ve finally added an open-to-the-public all ages venue. Check out the schedule:

That’s a lot to take in! We’ll be doing the alternating stages at The Avenue again and, weather permitting, The Record Lounge show will be the best and probably last outdoor party of 2017. Get familiar with most of the lineup via the sampler below and stay tuned to the fest facebook event for more updates!

Surprise and thank you, here’s the 100th release from GTG Records. 21 new songs, most of them exclusive and brand new. The Plurals, City Mouse, Honah Lee, Drinking Mercury, Small Parks, Wade from Dreadpool Parker, The Hunky Newcomers, Calliope, Jeremy Porter And The Tucos, Alpha Rabbit, The Stick Arounds, Half Tongue, Stargrazer, Sleeping Timmy, Frank and Earnest, Jason Paul, The Hat Madder, CrookedSound, Tommy Plural, No Skull, AND the debut of Disappointed Dad. Sheesh!! Most of these bands have current or upcoming releases on GTG – and they’re all friends and part of our wider community – and they cover both a wide range of styles and, geographically, most of the US. It’s wild for us to think about how much has happened since 10 years ago when we were just getting into the CD release game with The Plurals and The Break-Ups, something that we celebrated in late 2007 with a mostly-Lansing area compilation CD release called Situations At Hand. It’s amazing that a lot of the people involved in that comp are still present 85(!) releases later on GTG100 but the fact that the family has grown so much is even more amazing. 2007 really was the launch year for GTG Records so as we gear up for the fall releases of 2017 we’re going to be periodically looking back at some highlights of the first 10 years of the label. And you better believe GTG Fest (Oct 12-15!) is going to be the most nuts it’s ever been this year. Good times!

Here’s a list of every GTG related show happening around the US this month, got some tour dates from a duo lineup of Honah Lee, plus the first road dates from Dim’s new band Alpha Rabbit. One of those dates is the Tommy Plural CD release!

Narc Out the Reds have a new release coming! The release party is TOMORROW November 5th at Mac’s Bar in Lansing. Check out this City Pulse article for media validation! The record will be available next week! Its a 10-inch! I don’t even own any 10-inches, much less have had any part in releasing them before so this is super awesome!! The show is going to be a fantastic time, check out the event page here. YEAH!!

Formed in 2009, The Stick Arounds – consisting of members of old-school Lansing powerhouses Calliope, the Pantones, and Gentleman Callers – take you to a sonic neighborhood where garage rock, Byrds-esque pop, Guided By Voices-inspired abandon, and classic rock all happily live together. A mainstay of mid-Michigan dive bars, when the time came to make an album the band decided to eschew conventions and record where they felt most comfortable: in front of a live audience. The project that followed ended up becoming a labor of love for the GTG family as the venue for the live recording was the now-defunct but much beloved GTG-operated DIY/ warehouse venue The Mystery Garage and the recording and mixing engineer was the Hat Madder’s Isaac Vander Schuur. The album, appropriately titled Mystery Garage, captures the essence of the band and documents a place and time, as all great live albums are meant to. Check out the album for 12 songs of tightly crafted rock and roll songs with a chiming, three guitar attack to complement the impressive group vocal efforts – best enjoyed cranked up with the windows down. Order the LP here or stream it on Spotify!

GTG Fest 2016: SUCCESS! Soooooo many good times. Thanks so much to The Avenue Cafe, all the raffle donors, the attendees, the bands, the city of Lansing… everyone! GTG Fest 2016 was the biggest year yet for us and we can’t wait to see what the future holds! Even if right now we’re all still nursing our sore bodies and unraveled minds! That’s how you know it’s a fest weekend!

This weekend was also really important to us because we released two new LPs and in the process had two more bands join our family! Small Parks released their debut LP “Honest Light” on vinyl (it came out digitally in the spring but now it’s a for-real real record!) Friday night, with The Stick Arounds following suit with the release of their debut (recorded live at the much beloved and missed Mystery Garage) LP “Mystery Garage” on Saturday night. Two different perspectives of the Michigan DIY community, many styles and sounds, and all good, honest pure-GTG Records goodness. You can order ’em at our store right now!

Expect further updates on these two great bands and more info on their records in the coming days. It was a great weekend and there’s still so much to take in! Good times.